Thursday, March 20, 2008

Goodbye, Clarke!

A sad day for the fan of classical science fiction literature. Arthur C. Clarke has passed away. Just a few years ago, I was eating his books for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He, together with Isaac Asimov, remain my favorite authors for sheer imagination and articulation.

While he may be most well-known for his book 2001: A Space Odyssey, I will always remember Clarke's series that bears my name.

Selected works of Arthur C. Clarke

"Prelude to Space" (1951): His first published novel was written in three weeks during the summer of 1947.

"The Sentinel," a short story published in 1951, is among his best-known works. It is about man's contact with sentient life.

"The Deep Range" (1957): With his friend Mike Wilson he filmed the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, from which this novel is derived.

"A Fall of Moondust" (1961): The tale of a marooned moon schooner.

"Dolphin Island" (1963): After being briefly paralyzed by a head injury, Clarke wrote this novel as a farewell to the sea.

"The Treasure of the Great Reef" (1964): A recovered Clarke went on an underwater adventure off Sri Lanka, then wrote this book.

"2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): In the spring of 1964, Clarke started to write a novel about space travel that became the basis for the film. He continued the saga in three sequels, "2010: Odyssey Two" (1982), "2061: Odyssey Three" (1988), and "3001: The Final Odyssey" (1996).

"Rendezvous with Rama" (1973): A research team is sent to investigate a cylindrical object hurtling through the solar system.

"The Hammer of God" (1993): Story of an asteroid hurtling toward Earth anticipated such films as "Deep Impact" (1998) and "Armageddon" (1998).

Source: www.kirjasto.sci.fi/aclarke.htm

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